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There is a meme sensation sweeping the internet!! It all started with “Shit Girls Say.” The concept is that someone (often those who are not a member of the group who is being mocked) mocks the things that a group of people stereotypically say. Simple enough . . . and sometimes HILARIOUS.

One of the most popular of these videos is Shit White Girls Say . . . To Black Girls:

This particular take on the meme caused the internet (and particularly the Twitterverse) to EXPLODE. Charges of racism were thrown at the video’s creator, comedian and blogger Franchesca Ramsey. In response, people tried to explain how this is not racism but in fact is trying to highlight the type of racism that Black Women must deal with every day coming from White Women.

Well, on the holiday celebrating the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I was fortunate enough to attend a lecture by Columbia University’s Professor of Psychology, Derald Wing Sue. He went into great detail to explain the concept of microaggressions, described as “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative [identity-based] slights and insults toward people of other [identities].” Wing Sue’s extensive research has highlighted the ways in which these commonplace microaggressions can have profound impacts on the target’s self esteem, health, sense of community, feeling of safety, and more.

What I love about the language of microaggressions, though, is that is can show people of privilege how it doesn’t take overt hate speech to make a person who has systematically been denied privilege feel lesser or unwelcome. For instance, saying to a Latino or Asian person, “You speak very good English” says to that person (who might or might not have lived here their entire lives) that they are an other. They are not normal and this must be pointed out. This is similar to calling a young Black man “articulate” or saying “that’s so gay” as an equivalent to something being bad. It send a tiny message to people who identify with the slighted group that they are an other, they are not normal, they are not valuable or welcome.

If someone has to deal with a lifetime of microaggressions, we can see how that can lead to health problems, poor self esteem, and frustration.

So . . . I was going to write a blog all about how the Shit White Girls Say . . . To Black Girls video is a brilliant commentary on microaggressions, but it’s already been written! And written really well!

OMG! Yes – that WAS a great article! And her discussion that you can’t just switch it around (whether by race, sex, class, or sexuality) and think it still works… it doesn’t! (… did that sentence make any sense??) And its what MRAs do all the time. And it completely derails the conversation and misses the point.

Two things: One, I think Louis CK has some awesome social commentary in his comedy, and he also pointed out that part of privilege is that insults don’t really hurt (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4f9zR5yzY – not everyone liked this either, but I did). “Wooo you called me a cracker. Whoop-di-do.They don’t have the history or the impetus.

Two, I recently had a conversation with a friend (who is black, gay, and republican, so…) who said “oh I hate political correctedness because people always get offended” etc – basically the same argument here, only generally. My response? I’d much rather prefer people let me know when I’m sating something offensive. I probably did it out of naivete, so please point it out. Look, it might be annoying to you to have to think about the things you say, but isn’t that a small price to pay when you think about it? Geesh.